How Do You Solve a Problem Like Enrollment? Involving Faculty in Student Recruitment

By:  Pamela Stewart

If someone at EMU were to create bingo cards for faculty meetings, university communications, etc. ”enrollment” would be the free space. During my ten years on this faculty, our student population has reduced by nearly half, from over 21,000 to about 12,000. While some aspects of this decline are certainly attributable to external circumstances and shared by other institutions, it is troubling and perplexing to see neighboring universities rebound–and even grow–while Eastern’s enrollment has continued to fall. 

Enrollment decline has directly impacted my work as a faculty member, from more global (though perhaps more abstract) concerns about the health of the institution and viability of certain programs to my colleagues’ and my ability to offer our full slate of classes each semester. As the new FDC Faculty Fellow for Academic Collaboration and Enrollment Strategy, I’ve been asked to share some thoughts about how we as faculty can–and why we should–become involved in student recruitment. 

First, I want to share two statistics that have been living rent-free in my head: 1 in 5 college-educated individuals from Jackson to Monroe are EMU alums. And yet, while most regional public colleges are the top choice for students in their surrounding county, EMU ranks 4th in Washtenaw County (behind WCCC, MSU, and U of M). Eastern is deeply rooted in our community; but the current students in our community are not choosing us. How can we get back on their radar? What do we offer at EMU that sets us apart from other institutions? Enter our faculty.

I have worked on recruitment and retention initiatives for much of my time at Eastern. My department (Art and Design) is rare, if not unique, at EMU for doing our own in-house recruitment, with a dedicated Recruitment and Outreach Committee and a faculty Recruitment Coordinator. In addition to participating in University events like Explore Eastern, we do outreach to area high schools and community colleges, offer faculty-led workshops on campus, table at local organizations, meet with prospective students and their families, develop content for social media, and host an annual exhibition of art by high school students that brings them to campus to engage with our community. While we are far from immune to the overall decline, these efforts have resulted in enrollment numbers that frequently outperform the EMU/CAS averages. So I know outreach works. 

There is a growing awareness, as Kerri A. Golden, Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Education at St. Francis University, wrote in an article for Inside Higher Ed, that faculty, “as experts in their fields and mentors to current students…are uniquely positioned to make meaningful connections with prospective students.” Golden reports data from her own institution that singles out the impact of faculty interactions on campus visitors: 

“Overwhelmingly, surveys with prospective students identify interactions with faculty as a key highlight [of campus visits]. There is not really a close second. This insight reinforces the idea that faculty are the best ambassadors for their programs, as they provide the human connection that brochures and websites simply cannot replicate. Admissions counselors are wonderful representatives, but students and families are drawn to faculty as the experts.”

This gels with my own experiences on both sides, as a student and as a professor. When I visited colleges as a high school student, the thing that made the biggest impact on my decisions was attending a class. That was the moment I started to see myself there; where I started to think of the faculty as my teachers and the students as my peers. As a faculty member now, my most successful interactions with prospective students have been when I’ve welcomed them into my classroom. I have a student this semester who visited my class several years ago while still in high school, and who credits that visit with helping to inspire their major. Admissions tours and info sessions are valuable, but if those students enroll they won’t be learning from an admissions officer–or necessarily see them again. They’ll be learning from us.

Earlier this year, the Faculty Senate shared recent enrollment data and referred to an identity crisis at EMU “as we grapple with the question of what differentiates us from peer institutions.” I have three words in response: 

Faculty. Student. Connections. 

Our learning community of faculty and students is our greatest asset. We are a “high touch” institution, where undergraduate students work closely with faculty mentors both in and out of the classroom. The FDC’s Teaching and Learning Together (TaLT) initiative speaks directly to this point. Our work on recruitment will address how we can better share these stories and experiences with the community.

I have a strong suspicion that there are actually many of us who are already doing outreach work on an individual or departmental level. (If this sounds like you, message me! We ride at dawn.) Rather than repeating the same work in a vacuum, how can we pool our resources towards more impactful joint action? I also recognize that, especially for an already overextended faculty, this can feel like a big ask–and Golden’s article offers valuable reflections on how universities can encourage buy-in with meaningful incentives for this kind of work. This is one of the reasons why I want to start by identifying and leveraging existing activities and connections.

Over the next few months–and extending beyond this semester–the Faculty Development Center will be rolling out a series of initiatives and invitations to faculty to join student recruitment efforts. 

The first of these, detailed in last week’s FDC Newsletter, is a proposal for “Enhanced Visits” that will pair groups of prospective students with faculty in their area of interest for a focused activity, such as visiting an existing class, participating in a demo or workshop, a facilities tour, reaching out to students by personal email, etc. If this is something you can see yourself doing, please tell us here.

I’d also like to invite all faculty and departments to share what you consider to be your main showpieces/points of pride: a course that is especially impactful, an event or initiative, and above all some of the signature faculty-student partnerships that can speak to the opportunities we create at EMU. Even more generally, I want to issue an invitation to “recruitment-curious” folks to sit down, grab a coffee, avoid grading, and brainstorm about other ways we can shine a spotlight on our dynamic learning community at Eastern.    

I hope many of you will consider joining us in these efforts!